


Day 137

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [137]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:33:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24235840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [137]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257





	Day 137

Rhatigan watched the progress his workers made with interest. The standard procedure when one discovered an entrance to the deep roads was to block it the hell off and pray to whomever you prayed to that it stayed closed. Rhatigan prided himself on being bold in place of standard. Every week or so some crazed mage, suspicious templar or misguided do-gooder would burn their way through one of the tunnels beneath Kirkwall leaving it unusable for several weeks at least. If there was a way to connect the tunnel his whelp had found to the main city, they might just be able to keep it a secret long enough to get some good use out of it. If that meant fighting some darkspawn and digging through stone, well that was what Dwarves were best at.

As a reward for finding the entrance, Rhatigan had let Harra be in charge of the rubble cleaners. Let her get a taste of bossing people around. Maybe she would learn some fucking leadership skills while she was at it. Probably not, but anything was possible.

“Ogre,” someone shouted from deep in the tunnel. Rhatigan smiled and drew his greataxe.

He charged down the tunnel feeling the surge of euphoria that always accompanied his battlerage. He rounded a corner and saw three of his men fleeing a hulking darkspawn with fists the size of Rhatigan’s chest and horns as long as a dwarf.

Rhatigan didn’t even slow down. He charged into the monster, pounding the creature’s guts with his shoulder. The monster stumbled back letting out a mighty roar. Rhatigan bellowed in response. Before the ogre had a chance to recover Rhatigan swung his axle down in a mighty blow to the head. The creature just managed to get an armoured forearm up to save itself.

Rhatigan was expecting a blow from the other hand and was taken completely off guard by a front kick. The blow knocked him off his feet and he fell hard on his back. The beast brought both its meaty fists down, trying to crush Rhatigan beneath its incredible weight.

Rhatigan rolled out of the way and got to his feet. He had managed to drop his axe in the fighting but he didn’t let that slow him down. The creature had leaned over to land its blow and its face was within reach. Rhatigan pummeled the monster with his silverite gauntlets. The ogre chased and sputtered as blows lacerated its face. Rhatigan had had these gauntlets made for just such an occasion.

The creature lashed out with a backfist and Rhatigan ducked under the blow neatly. He rolled forwards, picking up his axe along the way. He came to his feet swinging and screaming and spun in a full circle, building momentum before cleaving completely through one of the beasts legs and halfway through the other.

The ogre toppled forwards spraying black icor all over the tunnel. Rhatigan took a few steps back until the worst of the spray was over. It did not pay to be literally bloodthirsty when fighting darkspawn. The ogre was on its hands and knees, struggling to stand on its severed limb. If nothing else, Rhatigan had to admire the determination of the Darkspawn. They would keep coming at you until you took their head. His axe was still stuck in the beast’s remaining leg so Rhatigan took hold of the creature’s horns and climbed onto its head. It tried to grab at him with its arms but he easily avoided the attack. From his perch he punched down and into the monster’s skill until it gave way with a satisfying crunch. 

Rhatigan ripped out the ogre’s brain for good measure, only then was he satisfied that the beast was truly dead. He removed his blood-covered gauntlets and called for someone to wipe the splatter from the rest of his armor. As more dwarves came he pointed to the brain.

“Go see if any of the alchemists in town will pay for that,” he said. He doubted it but you never knew. It was then that he saw the injured dwarf. He had a nasty cut across his belly and was soaked in black sticky blood. The others gave him a wide berth and for good reason. The man was already dead but if he survived the cut he would go feral and turn into a ghoul. There was no cure for the blight.

“You have two choices,” Rhatigan said, retrieving his axe. “I can kill you here and now, or you can run into that tunnel and disappear forever.”

The man took one look at Rhatigan’s axe and sped off in the direction the ogre had come from.

Good choice.


End file.
